Baghdad The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fouad Hussein, affirmed that Iraqi lands should not be used as a headquarters or a corridor to threaten the security of Iraq’s neighboring countries, stressing the importance of relying on dialogue and its sustainability to confront challenges, especially security ones, in a way that preserves Iraq’s sovereignty and enhances the security and stability of the region.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a statement: “A meeting was held on the sidelines of the Manama Dialogue 18 meetings, which are taking place in the Bahraini capital, Manama, with an American delegation that included Barbara A. Leaf, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Colin Kahl, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Defense, and Brett McGurk, Coordinator of the White House for the Middle East and North Africa, Gershom Sachs, National Security Council Policy Adviser, Roland McKay, Director of Gulf Affairs at the National Security Council, and David Maher, Political Officer at the US Embassy in Manama.

The meeting stressed the importance of strengthening and developing relations between Iraq and the United States of America in various fields, and the two sides discussed mutual commitment to the strategic framework agreement between the two countries and common interests in preserving Iraq’s security, stability and sovereignty.

The Minister affirmed that Iraq is moving towards openness to all countries, especially to the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the conclusion of balanced relations based on achieving common interests, preserving sovereignty, and non-interference in internal affairs, adding; There are meetings of mutual visits, and we invited them to attend the “Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership” in its second edition, to be held in Amman.

For their part, the American delegation affirmed the United States’ keenness to work with the government and people of Iraq in increasing economic opportunities, enhancing Iraq’s independence in the field of energy and addressing the climate crisis, renewing the commitment of the American government to support Iraq in its war against the terrorist gangs of ISIS and to defeat them.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency